Truly, Madly, Deeply
by 2BeRini
Summary: This is the story of Abraxas Malfoy-Nott, foster son of Theo Nott & son of the late and unlamented Draco Malfoy & Hermione Granger. A tribute to Colubrina's & dulce de leche go's masterpiece of a collaboration, "A Bodyguard of Lies." This follows the events of Chapter 30, Epilogue III. Rated M for language, mentions of torture and just general bad behavior. (On Hiatus)
1. Never Forget Their Names

*** First, I want to thank Colubrina for letting me play in her world. You seriously need to read all of her stories; especially _"Bodyguard of Lies,"_ which was co-written with another fabulous author, dulce de leche go. This three-shot is based on Epilogue Three in "BoL," and follows the Abraxas Malfoy-Nott, son of Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger and foster son of Theo Nott.

**Truly, Madly, Deeply**

* * *

"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names."

That was the advice my foster father, Lord Theodore Nott gave me when I came home so long ago, my feelings hurt because the boys in our social set made fun of my heritage. My birth father was dead, a disgrace to his House, to his Name and to the Cause. The reason why – a woman, my birth mother, a Mudblood unworthy of the wand she carried, unworthy of the love and devotion given to her by my father, unworthy of giving birth to me, his son and heir. I hated them both and since you can't kill the dead, I focused on getting even with those who mocked me.

I did so by being better than them. Despite their 'pure' blood, I am the smartest, the most powerful, and the deadliest. Where they depended on their more fortunate circumstances of their birth, I fought for every achievement, earned them through my not so pure blood, through my sweat and through my tears. I learned from my foster father that pain does not always equal misery and I learned how to embrace it. My hard work and devotion did not go unnoticed. The same ones who scorned me looked on in envy when they were passed over and I was elevated. Still, they ridiculed me –

_'He doesn't have what it takes to be a Death Eater.'_

_'Blood will tell and his is inadequate, tainted both his father's weakness and his whore of a mother's fickleness.'_

_'His foster father should have drowned him after he disposed his muddy mother.'_

I made note of those who persisted to make less than flattering comments despite me proving myself their better. Carrow, Rowle, Selwyn and Yaxley all suffered at the business end of my wand whenever our instructors let us have a no holds barred duel. When Yaxley died and I was not even reprimanded for it, the message was clear – they were disposable, I was not. No one who valued their lives ever disparaged my birth within my hearing ever again.

_**~*~*~* Page Break *~*~*~ **_

"Revenge is sweet and nonfattening."

My lady mother is fond of saying that and a mean little glint always enters her eyes when she says it. One day, I asked her what she thought about whenever she said that particular quote.

"I think about the fun that your father and I had with your birth mother before her untimely demise. Pity that she died before we grew tired of her."

Most people would blanch and be ill after being told that one's foster parents tortured their birth mother, but I didn't care. From the pensive memories that I viewed about her, Hermione Granger was a judgmental, sanctimonious bitch who disrespected people who didn't quite fit into her rigid views of what was right and acceptable. I don't know how she ever fell in love (if she ever was) with my birth father because he certainly was everything she ever fought against.

"One day, my dear Abbie, you will experience the euphoria of getting your revenge and your enemies getting their just desserts," my mother said as she ran her fingers through my hair.

Based on the number of people that had disappeared from court over the years, I had a feeling that my lady mother and lord father experienced that euphoria often.

My first opportunity to experience revenge occurred when I received my Death Eater initiation target. His name was Neville Longbottom, co-leader of the resistance, former Gryffindor, almost chosen one, friend of the departed Hermione Granger. I was happy to receive the assignment because he had something that did not belong to him – my birth father's wand.

I wanted the wand for two reasons. The first reason was because rumor said Longbottom used it to deliver the killing blow to those who were loyal to the Cause. The second reason was because he did not receive the wand in an honorable way. True wizards only used a wand that chose them or those that they won in combat. The hawthorn and unicorn hair wand did not belong to him, nor was it won it combat. By dueling rights the wand belonged to my treasonous birth mother. I was determined to defeat Longbottom and rid the wand the taint it had accumulated.

Longbottom was worthy foe, a credit to his pureblood heritage despite being a blood-traitor. Yet youth was on my side, and the element of surprise. He had not clearly seen my face, as he was too busy trying to stay alive and to send me to my grave prematurely. However, when he tripped over a tree root, I knew how the battle would end. I quickly petrified him from the neck down, bound him and pulled the hood away from my head.

"Do you know who I am," I asked him.

"You're . . . . Hermione's son, Malfoy's bastard," he spat. "How . . . why . . ."

"How did this happen? Why am I loyal to the Cause? Because, the Mudblood whore that is my birth mother killed my weak willed, pussy whipped birth father. She of course, paid the price later," I replied nonchalantly.

"She would be heartbroken if she would have seen what you have become."

"The bitch had no heart. If she did, she wouldn't have killed my father. Besides, my lord father gave her vivid details on how he was going to raise her son, as my lady mother, the woman she despised, held me and called me her own when I was only a few hours old."

In response, Longbottom spat in my face and I calmly wiped the bloody phlegm off my check.

"That's the problems with Gryffindors. They never think things through. Your precious friend killed the one man in the cruel world that gave a damn about her. He protected her, loved her, something that not even you can say. She killed the only person who would've fallen on a sword if it meant her happiness."

Longbottom looked at me like he did not believe my words, but I didn't care if he did. I was attempting to make a point.

"And you – still fighting the good fight when your side has lost. Defiant to the very end, I see. I was going to make your death quick, but I think I will take a page from Bellatrix's playbook." Oh, the defiance was still there, but I could see the fear quickly winning in his eyes.

"I heard your parents' withstood the curse for an hour and a half before they broke, cracked and went insane. Let's see if you can exceed their record, shall we?" I lifted the petrifying curse off of him and bound the ropes more tightly so he could not use a wand.

**"Cruico!"**

Neville Longbottom did not last twenty minutes and I watched him die slowly as he bled out in the mud he was so found of.

"Pathetic," I spat when he took his last breathe. I snapped every wand he had on his person except for one –

The hawthorn and unicorn hair wand.


	2. Knowledge is Power

I didn't experience euphoria when I killed Longbottom, but I did have a deep feeling of satisfaction. It was that feeling of satisfaction that kept me from flinching as the Dark Mark was seared onto my left wrist.

"The last person who received their Mark without flinching was your worthless father," Bellatrix said after the ceremony. "I had such high hopes for him and after his initial assignment; it seemed he lived up to them all. Don't be like him and let your baser instincts be your undoing."

"My lord father seems to thrive despite his 'baser instincts,'" I replied bitingly, refusing to allow her to bait me.

"The hyphenated last name you carry does not negate the fact that you're a Malfoy and a Black. A baseborn, half-blood one, but one nevertheless - it would be in your best interests to never forget that."

I had never wanted to curse someone so badly but I stilled my tongue and although my fingers twitched, I kept my hand away from my wand.

"A word of advice, Abraxas – you will not always have the element of surprise or the good fortune to duel someone one against one. Stop being so chatty and finish the kill."

I couldn't stop the surprise that showed on my face. While I was concentrating on not cursing and possibly killing my great-aunt, the witch had looked through my memories without me even realizing it.

"However," Bellatrix said as she exited the room, "breaking the Longbottom boy by using the Cruciatus Curse was a delicious piece of irony."

**~*~*~* Page Break *~*~*~**

Before leaving for the assassination mission that would make me a lord if I was successful, I went to speak with my foster father.

"Enter," he said, giving me permission to enter his study. "I thought you would be well on your way to start your mission. What delays you?"

"I wished to confer with you, my Lord, before I left. The Network's reports have stated that Zabini is on the move, his harlot of a wife, pregnant. They also have stated that although Zabini's strategizing prowess hasn't diminished, his magical power has and he only enters the fray when covering the retreat. Are you aware of any reason why his magic is diminishing and do you have any idea of any places he would deem safe enough to hide at in order to protect his pregnant witch?"

"So his betrayal has finally caught up to him," my foster father, Theodore Nott, murmured, a distant look in his eyes. I remained silent, waiting for the answers to the questions both spoken and unspoken.

"Do you remember the consequences of an Unbreakable Vow," he questioned.

"The most commonly used penalties are loss of magic or instant death," I replied.

"We knew after the Third Task of the Tri-wizard Competition that our Lord had returned and that we all would be eventually called into service. Daphne Warrington was our bonder. We became bond brothers, pledging to protect each other, not to harm one another and to protect and not harm those who we considered family. Zabini was the one who broke the bond."

"I will admit that I antagonized your birth mother. I hated her for her low birth and more importantly, I hated her because of the power she held over your father. I did not, however, intentionally seek to harm her, physically or emotionally, while your father was alive. Zabini was different in that aspect. He despised her for living when he thought his tramp of a wife was dead. He despised the fact that she had stopped fighting against the current regime while he continued to do so, in memory of his supposedly dead love. He despised that she found some semblance of happiness with your father and he with her when all he was left with memories."

"Zabini taunted your mother being pregnant and unwed, and he did so callously. He did so with full knowledge that she knew her best friend had gotten married without her and that it was too dangerous for your father to marry her. He knew that she was having a difficult pregnancy, and that the doctor warned against becoming too emotionally stressed. He distressed her so much that she went into premature labor twice, the second time almost killing the both of you. That is what severed the bond."

There was an almost uncomfortable silence that filled the room and my foster father cleared his throat before continuing.

"There's a property in Wales that Draco inherited from one of his Black relatives. We all went there to get away from the war, if only for a little while. Draco was Secret Keeper and when he died, Zabini and I became the Secret Keepers. Hopefully the arrogant prick forgets that."

My lord father rose to his feet and walked over to the window over and stared out unseeingly.

Knowing that I had been dismissed, I left the study and went to my room to pack for what I knew was going to be a long trip. My thoughts whirled – my foster father did not speak often about either of my birth parents. I thought he hated the both of them and now with this new information, it seemed he didn't hate my birth father as much as I thought he did. I wondered what caused rift between the two of them and came to the conclusion that the constant competition that the Dark Lord employed to receive the best results was the cause of it.

Armed with this knowledge, I looked over records of every mission Zabini did prior to defecting. I was hoping to find some clue to figure where he may have hidden if he was at the property that was mentioned to me. It was in those records where I found the knowledge that would make this mission so very satisfying. I was going to employ the same methods he used to break Granger's loyalty to my birth father. The only difference was what would be said was going to be the truth, a truth that he would personally deliver.


End file.
